Korean-style fried chicken is becoming popular abroad. This portion of Padak chicken is from the Hong Kong branch of Chicken Hof & Soju, a popular Korean chicken restaurant. Their growth was bolstered by the financial crisis of the late 1990s – some who lost their jobs turned to opening chicken joints. There’s no hierarchy, only a diverse range that caters to a variety of tastes.Ĭhicken was once considered a delicacy in Korea, stewed whole with dates and ginseng and reserved for special occasions.įried chicken for the masses came with the launch of the first South Korean vegetable oil product in 1971, alongside a rapidly growing chicken industry.įried chicken was embraced as an excellent food pairing for draft beer, and subsequent years saw the debut of multiple chicken franchises. There’s boneless (sunsal), slathered in sweet and spicy sauce (yangnyeom) and smothered in leeks (padak). There’s chicken cooked on a charcoal fire (sutbul chicken). There’s proto-Korean fried chicken, the whole roast chicken (tongdak). Some claim only a specific frying method qualifies as “authentic” Korean-style chicken, but there are so many chimaek styles – chicken places are forever hatching new techniques and flavor combinations – that no one really has a say on what counts and what doesn’t. Korean-style, chimaek-worthy chicken is defined by an enormous range of choices that fall under the chimaek umbrella. “Chimaek is both an industry and a part of our dining culture.” “It’s part of our national culture,” says bar owner Park Vito, who sometimes gets chicken delivered to his bar. “Chimaek after work lets me know I’ve survived another day.” “Chimaek is like a sigh of relief,” says Kim Min-jeong, who works for a legal firm in Seoul. Its popularity hasn’t abated, and its significance has risen from national dish to national pastime. Like any celebrity power couple, chicken and beer have a co-joined nickname: chimaek (“chi” for chicken and “maek” for maekju, Korean for beer).Ĭhimaek has been around for a while but the term itself became widespread in 2010, the year of the World Cup, and something of a golden year for chimaek. This one is a combo of tradtitional and yangnyeom (with sweet and spicy sauce) chicken. No single style counts as "authentic" chimaek.
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